


Reading

by ShinySherlock ficlets (ShinySherlock)



Series: assorted tumblr ficlets [41]
Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Motherhood, Parenthood, Sherlock's Childhood
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-13
Updated: 2014-05-13
Packaged: 2018-01-24 13:31:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 352
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1606898
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShinySherlock/pseuds/ShinySherlock%20ficlets
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Second of three ficlets for Mother's Day: Mrs. Holmes watches over her boy in hospital.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Reading

Margaret Holmes pushes at the bridge of her reading glasses and turns another page on her Kindle. She’s already read three of the twenty-five books that Mycroft’s PA loaded on it for her, and based on what the doctors are saying, she’ll easily finish the rest before Sherlock’s released this time.

She looks over to the bed.

He looks so small. Too thin, too pale. She wants to take him home, feed him up, let him out in the grass and the sunshine until he’s golden and freckled and strong. It’s easy to see him so—it seemed that every summer day was filled with Sherlock running in and out of the house to show her one thing or another. Either that, or it’d be sunset and she’d have to go looking for him, finding him in some hidden corner of the woods. _What do you do out here all alone for hours, darling?_ she’d ask, and he would shrug. _Think_ , he’d say.

Now, even asleep and sedated, he’s still thinking. His features knit themselves into angles and she frowns.

He won’t tell her what happened. He rarely did, even as a child.

Shuffling, Sherlock stirs the sheets, and she rises to lay a gentle hand upon his cheek.

“Mum,” he says softly, half-awake.

“Yes, darling.”

He opens his gorgeous eyes and she’s struck again by his beauty, his intelligence, his pain. Her fingers dip into his hair, and he lets her stroke his curls away from his forehead.

He’s staring, the one that means he’s trying to sort something out. He thinks if he looks hard enough, he’ll read the answer there, see it reflected back to him. She stays steady, her hand moving slowly, back and over, her eyes open and calm. But whatever it is, it’s too much, too much for him to work out this time. She senses it a moment before it happens; his face crumples, and he turns his head towards her, face half-buried in the pillow.

Her hand shifts and continues to wave over his soft hair.

“We’ll figure it out, my boy. Always do.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Comments always appreciated. <3  
> (And if you're looking for more to read, I made a [fic index](http://shinysherlock.tumblr.com/post/105509221665) of my stuff by category which I hope is helpful.)


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